Tuesday's fatal shooting was the third of 2000

Published: Thursday, September 28, 2000

Amber IrlbeckLubbockOnline

The shooting of 44-year-old Joe Cavazos Jr. was the third fatal police shooting in the Lubbock area in nine months.

Texas Rangers are investigating the Cavazos, which took place in South Lubbock County Tuesday evening. Paul Scarborough, chief deputy of the Lubbock County Sheriff's Department said the three fatal shootings so far in 2000 are difficult to link together. It's the first time there's been a fatal police shooting linked to his office in 25 years, he said.

"It's very difficult to compare these three incidents," Scarborough said. "It's not a law enforcement problem as much as it is the person who choose to escalate the situation. I don't know of any officer who would rather hurt someone than take a person in safely with out incident.

"Generally, the people put in those positions as law enforcement officers are put there by other people."

According to a sheriff's office report released Wednesday, Cavazos' pickup rammed a Child Protective Service worker's car in which his children were riding. He then got out of the pickup and chased one of the workers, reportedly brandishing a knife.

When Sheriff's deputies raised their weapons and ordered Cavazos to surrender, Cavazos dropped the knife, but Sheriff Deputy Anthony McAdoo fired after Cavazos made a threatening motion "with an unknown object," the report said.

On Tuesday, Cavazos' family told The Avalanche-Journal that the man had done nothing to provoke McAdoo.

Ben Newcomb, a board member of the Lubbock American Civil Liberties Union Chapter said they had not received a complaint regarding the shooting.

"We haven't made any kind of assessment at this point," he said. "We'll have to wait until we receive a complaint."

Newcomb said it would be premature for the organization to take a stance on the shooting before the Rangers and the ACLU have investigated it.

"We've had concern in the past about incidents like these long ago but not in recent times," Newcomb said. "There have been some questionable actions by police that were resolved in different ways but we haven't been involved in those."

One complaint was made to the ACLU about the July 31 shooting of Ruben Noah Rivera, he said.

The Avalanche-Journal reported Rivera was shot and killed near a nightclub after he drove his car straight at a Lubbock police officer who had been patrolling the area to watch for car burglaries, which had risen sharply in that area.

Newcomb said the ACLU has worked with law enforcement agencies in other places to resolve problems when they exist, or sue police the organization finds the complaint has merit. Still, the police investigation must be completed before an accurate assessment of the shooting can be made, he said.

The ACLU didn't get a complaint following the first fatality of 2000 in April. Then, 19-year-old David Rodriguez was shot during a high-speed police chase in Levelland.

The fatal shot occurred when Fred Gonzales, a reserve with the Levelland police force, was shooting at the tires on Rodriguez's car. As he attempted to shoot the tire, Rodriguez swerved toward the police car. Gonzalez pulled his arm back to avoid being crushed by the impact, but when the cars collided the gun went off. Rodriguez was shot above his left ear, according to a Texas Rangers' report.

Lubbock Police Spokesman Bill Morgan said the three incidents are unrelated and involved three different law enforcement agencies with different jurisdictions.

"There is not way to predict frequency," Morgan said. "It is all based on human behavior and there is no way of predicting that."